Genkai town in southern Kyushu undergoes screening to be Japan's nuclear waste disposal site

Japan's nuclear waste is piling up, but it has yet to find a site for its first disposal facility. Screening to assess the suitability of Genkai, a rural town in southern Kyushu, began in June. The entire process to select a permanent disposal site will take some 20 years. At each stage, local authorities have the right to pull out. By undergoing just the first step of screening, the town can receive grants of up to ¥2 billion (US$12.7 million). Nuclear waste needs to be stored at least 300m underground for about 100,000 years, until radioactivity falls to acceptable levels. Michiyo Ishida reports.